Phew, what a scorcher!

Great weather for camels but not for spuds! The scorching weekend sunshine had made my spud tops droop so after topping up the bags with more compost I gave each one at least half a watering can of water which took an awful long time to do. But I was rewarded for my efforts as the foliage perked up almost instantly and I swear they've grown an inch overnight.

My onions have started to get a move on at long last, but with only two months until I need to be harvesting them I'm not going to break any weight records. The plants in the pots are aubergines......yes I know I said I wasn't going to bother growing them ever again!!!!

I planted my first runner bean plants of 'Blyton Sabre' at the weekend and also set some more bean seeds 'in situ' to cover the later shows.

These are my first planting of peas 'Show Perfection'. Peas are a '20 pointer' vegetable as it's notoriously difficult to stage a good set in August/September because most late sowings succumb to mildew. To get good peas you need to grow 'cordon style' up a bamboo cane and snip off all the tendrils. The means the plants energies are diverted to producing the pods but also means tying or clipping the plant to the cane almost daily. The flowers are cut off until about 21-28 days before the show.